Don't quite know where to begin. My husband was told he had a Hiatus Hernia and prescribed medication for it. Only later did we learn that you are not supposed to be on it long term.
Turned out after an endoscopy that he had stage 4 oesophageal cancer and surgery not an option. He is now on a 2nd course of chemo and has lost a lot of weight plus gets very tired and feels the cold. Apart from all this he has had two stents fitted as the first one slipped. He can only consume soft foods that are blended plus additional supplement drinks. The one question he has asked 3 doctors that so far have been unable to come up with an answer is why when he eats a thick mucus comes up although the food stays down. He has been prescribed omeprazole which hasn't really helped. Today after an appointment for a blood test and speaking to the nurse about this problem she suggested carbocisteine and said this should help but it had to be prescribed by a GP. So, back to surgery to request it, told Dr has to be sent a letter/email from the hospital. The amount of trips for various appointments has been tremendous, and I can only sympathsie with anyone else that has endured the same. I have to add WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED TO OUR NHS? The nurses and doctors do their best under the circumstances and my husband received excellent care from an ICU last August when rushed to A&E as an ambulance was not coming, fortunately I can drive. Turns out he had a bleed and needed treatment in Resus. He has never seen our local GP or had any contact by phone the only time he came close was when a Dr was at the surgery door seeing a patient out to ask him about a letter regarding a Covid booster as not sure where to go, the GP said speak to reception turned and shut the door in his face. On complaint to surgery we were told the GP had no recollection of it. [ How convenient ] Changing GP's is not really worthwhile as most in our area are basically about the same.
Hi Pippi, I can hear you shouting at the computer as you wrote it !
It can be so frustrating with all the different needs for appointments after reading it all I would think you may be trying to mix teams and who to go to. For the last 2 years since my first cancer and then my second my GP was not involved in any of my health issues unless it wad convenient as all you get is they will refer to the appropriate Consultant or Oncologist as they are frightened to do anything that the others may not agree, I would suggest that you speak with the appropriate Oncologist Nurses that he will have been assigned to or ask to speak directly to the Oncologist.
I also find that if you do want to bypass the Reception team then complete an econsult form on line for your surgery they are then compelled to contact you even by phone, I was prescribed the carbocisteine as I have a stoma breathing and emphysema so as I special speaking arrangement too much mucus was making speaking difficult, the first time I had a Face appointment with the GP and luckily he knew what he was talking about and he prescribed Buscopan and anti allergy at night, but I wouldn’t do anything unless the Oncologist agrees to any medication due to the chemo.
As for cold – tell me about I’m 12 months out from my treatment and unfortunately the cold will continue and I still have little feeling in the tips of my fingers he may also have cold feet with fuzzy feeling in his soles.
But after all that hope he gets everything sorted out but I would say always speak with the MDT Team before his GP and that includes anything as it could all be contected to the treatment
Take care
Tony
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Laryngectomy and OC survivor
Lead Volunteer for Hampshire MacMillan Buddy Service
